Bush at the Stake

(Reprinted from the issue of February 1, 2007)

President
Bushs State of the Union address
took advantage of the ceremony of the occasion. It struck me as
more upbeat than I would have expected, given the new Democratic
majorities in Congress, the failure of his recent surge speech,
and his abysmal poll ratings.

His speechwriters
had evidently been directed to supply the usual grab-bag of applause lines
 surefire stuff about Madam Speaker, the threat of
terrorism, our heroic troops, fighting AIDS in Africa, the need for new
energy sources, education, and various other sacred cattle. Thanks to the
November elections, things are different this year, so there was no
axis of evil talk or daydreaming of putting a man on Mars; for
the first time Bush was addressing an enemy-occupied Congress.

Bush seemed to
welcome the challenge of working with the Democrats. Unfortunately, the
common ground he found with them was on such things as the federal
governments obligation to see to it that every man,
woman, child, and armadillo in the United States has guaranteed,
affordable health insurance. The compassionate
conservative really poured on the compassion  the
politicians code-word for socialism. It wasnt enough to satisfy
Hillary Clinton, naturally, but they agree in principle.

At the same time,
Bush reaffirmed his commitment to the Iraq war even the Republicans are
fleeing from. War, no matter how futile and costly, doesnt seem to
count as big government. And the war will go on as long as he remains in
office. Hardly anyone thinks 21,000 more troops are going to produce the
victory he still pines for. Even the military has little faith in his plan.

Still, Bush managed
to buck up his sides morale somewhat, if only for an evening. At least
he wasnt pelted with rotten eggs and apples. So what if he boosted
the Democrats morale even more? The important thing was to create
the feeling that he isnt the feckless loser he has been taken for
lately, even if he has lost the allegiance of much of his own party. His chief
strength is his dogged refusal to admit defeat, like a bloodied boxer who
raises his arms in victory after being pounded for ten rounds.

But with two years
left in his administration, Bush is now hanging on for dear life, trying to
prove he is something more than a lame duck. The big question now is who
will succeed him. Anyone who hoped that Bush would pursue a conservative
agenda has long since given up. His agenda now is survival, even if it means
cutting deals with the Democrats.

It is quite possible
that the next Republican presidential nominee wont be recognizably
conservative; the pro-abortion, pro-homosexual Rudy Giuliani is currently
leading in polls of GOP voters, and John McCain is leading the pack in
fundraising. (Both Giuliani and McCain support Bushs escalation of the
war.) Bushs legacy will be a much-expanded federal government and
maybe the end of conservative dominance of the Republican Party.
Here He Comes!

Shortly after Barack Obama, darling
of the liberal media, announced he was forming an exploratory
committee, Insight magazine, an offshoot of the
Republican, Moonie, neocon Washington Times, ran a story
that he had once attended a radical Islamic school, or madrassa, in Indonesia.
But it claimed that the story had been put out by the Clinton camp. The idea
was that the Clintons were up to old tricks, trying to make Obama sound like
an Osama. The story was quickly repeated by Fox News.

But someone tried to
track it down, and it seems that the story was false. Obama, as a small boy
in Indonesia, had briefly gone to a public school, predominantly Muslim but not
religious or radical (whatever he was then, he is a Christian now). Nor had the
fabrication originated with the Clintons. Apparently it was an attempt, by the
magazine itself, to embarrass both Obama and Hillary.

(Once this yarn was
exploded, CNN gleefully used it to embarrass Fox for running a phony scoop.)

Obama came through
this episode unscathed, as usual. He still trails Hillary, but his lucky streak
hasnt ended yet.
Here She Comes!

At the end of the week, Hillary made
it official: Shes in the race too. Shes still the frontrunner and
leading fundraiser, but she wasnt about to let Obama gain on her if
she could help it. Shes not getting any
younger, the media adore him, he doesnt have her negatives, a lot of
her base is still sore at her for supporting the Iraq war (which he opposed
from the start), and theyre afraid she cant win in 2008.

So she has to be
aggressive. She is now at her peak, and her edge, though substantial, could
collapse in a flash. By now even her friends are a little tired of her. It seems
like only yesterday that she was rocking to Dont Stop
Thinkin About Tomorrow, but the words now sound a little
ominous for her with the Boy Wonder at her heels.

She may need all her
poise; remember how suddenly Big Ed Muskies campaign went pffft in
a moment of weakness? Politics is a fickle business.

I cant say
Im rooting for her myself, but given the alternatives in both parties, I
find myself looking for a silver lining in the event that she becomes our
second President Clinton. First, of course, she could return the White House
furniture she and Bill made off with six years ago. And shes a known
quantity; its hard to imagine her exciting much enthusiasm for new
federal programs, and the Republicans would put up more opposition to her
than they have to Bush.
Oops!

After I recently
wrote that Sam Francis had passed away last year, I was reminded that it
was actually two years ago. Mea culpa. Even now I can hardly believe it has
been that long. At any rate, Im still glad to commend Shots Fired,
the newly published posthumous collection of his writings.



A
normal person is usually someone you dont know very
well yet  Regime Change Begins at Home, a new selection
of my Confessions of a Reactionary Utopian. If you have not seen a copy of
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